


So hyu tink hyu are a Heterodyne?

by TanukiKyle



Series: Castle Heterodyne [1]
Category: Girl Genius
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 07:30:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5576743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TanukiKyle/pseuds/TanukiKyle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Okay so this has snowballed into a whole Jagers-raise-Agatha AU. However I could not finish a whole AU in the time allotted to me, as it required a finished fic and I cannot finish all my planning in that time, let alone the writing! D: So, here's art and a ficlet in the loose future of this AU - expect a LOT more of this AU eventually, though! Hope you like this, Tactile!</p>
            </blockquote>





	So hyu tink hyu are a Heterodyne?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tactile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tactile/gifts).



[](http://photobucket.com/)

“So hyu tink hyu are a Heterodyne?”

The words echo across the evening rooftops, startling the intruders.

Agatha grins, feeling the split in her lip tug at her as she does. One of the others got in a lucky punch to the face. For given values of lucky, considering Agatha let him overreach and clip her so she could chop off his arm, disabling the embedded tech.

She moves the cleaning cloth against her sword, scrubbing off the blood staining it.

All in all, it is a suitably dramatic image, and makes the fake heterodyne and crew pause for a few moments. Agatha’s grin kicks up a notch. 

“Vud hyu like to convince de Kastle of dat?”

 

Understanding dawns, but not fast enough - the Castle from the broken bricks below slams up a cage before they even move micrometres. Agatha is particularly proud of that renovation to the castle. Getting things repaired so they LOOK broken but aren’t actually is a skill she has cultivated over the years. The Baron’s Questors tend to get to too interested if things suddenly look brand-gleaming-new. 

Of course some things have to be repaired completely, and when fuguing there’s never a hundred percent guarantee any of the sparks will remember to hide their work - it’s why the Chief Minions have a comm system to alert other Sparks that someone’s going overdrive, so to speak. 

“Shall I take them to the chamber, Mistress?”

Agatha’s lips tighten almost imperceptibly. The grin gets a little forced, a little fake.

“Is dere really a point? Dey never are real.”

(A roof over, the jagers wince. They can hear the grief in Agatha’s voice, even if the intruders can’t.)

The Castle pauses, and the cobblestones shiver a little in what Agatha knows to be a sigh.

“I am supposed to test them, though.”

“Fine, fine. Tell Van dat de newest intruders have been dealt with too, will hyu?”

“Yes, Mistress.”

Agatha is halfway across a rooftop and three-quarters of the way to the part of the Castle they all call home when Maxim drops in beside her.

“Hyu know, Hy vas verreh impressed by dat dramatic pose.”

Despite herself, Agatha’s lips twitch upwards in amusement.

“Hy vas also verreh impressed by dat sword maneuverink.”

A little of the tension seeps out of her shoulders as Maxim attempts to make her feel better. He’s not subtle - very few of the jagers are - but the motions are familiar. Reassuring. Comforting. 

She might not have family by blood of the womb, but she has plenty by blood of the covenant and the battlefield. As she skirts the safe path through the traps (not that the Castle would set them off, but it’s good practice to pick them out just in case) followed by Maxim and the others, she braces herself.

As soon as she enters the door to the main workroom, chaos erupts. 

Not, muses Agatha, that it wasn’t chaos to begin with. The main workroom is communal territory for all eight of her Sparks, plus their Chief Minions and hers, then of course the jagers, Van, Theo, Sleipnir, Zeetha and whoever is visiting lately from Mechanicsburg or farther afield. Of course, not all of them are there at once - everyone has their own personal lab, and half of those mentioned don’t reside in the Castle full time but there are always enough people wandering to and from the main workroom to make it feel busy. 

Today there’s another Fun-Sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispenser on the table, and Tarvek is having an animated argument with Kasper about some kind of upgrade. In the meanwhile, Dezso is flirting terribly with Anevka (as usual) who is ignoring him (as usual), but both of them have an eye on their brothers, just in case. 

Catalina is sat next to a jager, stitching a wound in their forearm and berating them loudly, and more jagers lurk around the room doing various things. Van lurks in a corner too, and Agatha focuses on him at first because he doesn’t often visit unless he wants something - ah, that’ll be it. One of the dingbots is hanging onto his trouserleg. The Castle must have summoned him about the intruders.

Agatha continues her rapid-fire scan of the room, but there are no imminent disasters looming. So she strides through to where Kasper and Tarvek are arguing. 

“Hy em tellink you dat - “  
“Look, are you going to listen to this or not -”

Agatha stifles a grin. Tarvek isn’t easy to ruffle, but whatever the two are arguing about has his hat in a twist, that’s for certain.

She spares a moment to consider mercy - but only a moment - before sliding an arm round Tarvek’s waist to derail him and stealing his place in the argument with Kasper. 

(Tarvek flusters, but he leans into her ever so slightly. She counts this as a win.)

Later, lying in her bed and listening to the Castle’s report, Agatha considers.

Overall, It’s been a good day. 

She closes her eyes to the familiar sound of Kaiva walking into her doorframe and then swearing at it, and smiles.


End file.
